Words
by StoneLion
Summary: W/D Sisko and Dax discuss a blossoming relationship.


"Words"  
  
For Seema, rock on, dudette  
  
Disclaimer: I'm neither Rick Berman nor any incarnation of Gene Roddenberry thus I do not own or claim any rights to Star Trek or its characters.  
  
Note: Work in progress, baby AKA this might be re-upped eventually.  
  
  
"Love is such a strong word," Dax started quickly, in a quiet tone after I welcomed her to my office and offered her a drink. She looked down at her hands folded neatly in her lap and laughed gently. I had an idea of what was going through Dax's head, but I could tell she wanted to talk to me, voice her concerns before I said a word. I turned my baseball around idly on my fingertips as I watched her face, waiting for a sign that she wanted me to break into the conversation. "It can be used in reference to things, places, ideas…and people," Dax continued, breathing the word "people". She unfolded her hands to reach for her mug of raktajino on my desk and sipped at the iced Klingon drink for a moment.  
  
I waited. This was not unlike one of our chess games. Both of us usually took our time between moves, savoring the order of the board as an interruption into our chaotic lives. We alternated colors every game so that no one person ever had to eternally wait or be eternally bound to make a first move when not ready. Now it was my turn to wait for Dax. Her first move was usually predictable, one of the knights, but today's meeting was more important than a simple game of chess. I could tell this much by the intensity of the emotion in her eyes when she entered my office only ten minutes ago and how carefully she chose her words.  
  
"So many people use the word so commonly. In English there are many ways to describe love for an object or creature," Dax said and she looked up at me, her tone slightly melancholy. "A word seems to lose some of the intensity of its meaning when there are so many synonyms one can use to mean the same thing. In your English language alone one can like, love, want, lust after, enjoy, and adore. I'm certain there are more verbs, more adjectives, more nouns which I have yet to hear, even after my long existence." She took another sip of her raktajino and leaned back in her chair, her body slumping tiredly against the gray cushion, worn from a day's work and worry over the war. I stopped playing with my baseball and took a sip from my own raktajino, still waiting for a sign from Dax. She set down her raktajino and plucked her comm badge off of her uniform to examine it in one hand.  
  
"The Universal Translator is disappointing in that respect, even with its incredible technological abilities; sometimes words and expressions are translated differently than they should be. It's the sort of thing that wars are started over, that makes lovers want to forget one another," Dax said thoughtfully. She turned the small triangular object over in her hand and frowned at it. The light caught on the badge and it shone for an instant before Dax placed it back on her uniform and looked up at me. She sighed deeply before continuing.  
  
"In the Trill language there is only one true word used to express the love of one person to another. It's hard to explain to someone who has never studied the intricacies of a language they didn't grow up speaking. So many people make the mistake of assuming that all words have matching counterparts in other languages." Dax explained in a powerful tone of voice. She leaned forward over the desk, her fingers curling over the edge, her chest brushing the top of her raktajino.  
  
"Benjamin, it doesn't seem strong enough to say I love him and know he hears the word in his language and when you hear me say it that you hear it in yours. It doesn't hold the passion or the romantic beauty of the word I grew up with on Trill! I want him to know that I don't just mean like or adore or lust…" Dax paused and looked at me, expressively. "I want him to know that I love him in every sense of the word, Benjamin, truly and deeply." Dax said breathily. She pushed herself off of the desk and leaned against the chair looking at me wide-eyed, my old friend waiting for advice. 


End file.
